Shape-shifting: Fantastic Metamorphoses
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” ― Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis All Change Imagine you could change your shape—or even better—become someone or something else. Though it may sound incredible, this happens to countless creatures that transform their body parts into…Read More
Life’s Big Questions
“Good science fiction is intelligent. It asks big questions that are on people’s minds.” – Nicholas Cage The Search for Truth Thinkers have always sought answers to big questions in life. What is God? What is consciousness? Do we have a soul? What does it mean to be human? Matters beyond the realm of science…Read More
The Dark Side of Human Nature
“If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us… But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn A…Read More
Why We Tell Stories
“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” — John W. Gardner Make No Mistake Nobody wants to make mistakes. But at least when we draw, we have erasers to undo them. Sadly, life isn’t like that. Our choices and actions are fixed in time. We can express remorse. We can make amends. But…Read More
Hyperactive Agency Detection and the Suspension of Disbelief
“It is wonderful that five thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has ever been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.” — James Boswell The Magic…Read More
Why Fantasy Matters
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.” — Albert Einstein Storytelling People love a good story. Since time began, stories have created magic and a sense of wonder at the world….Read More
The Big Lie
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave… when first we practice to deceive.” ― Walter Scott. Any historical novel, however well researched, is still a work of fiction. To my mind that means writers should focus on telling a great story and should incorporate only enough anecdotal history as is necessary to bring the plot…Read More
Chronos and Kairos: The Gods of Time
“Every kairos is a chronos, but not every chronos is a kairos.” — Hipporates It seems simple enough on the face of it, but what does time really mean? If you’d asked an ancient Greek to define it, he would have asked you which aspect of time you were talking about. You see, the Greeks…Read More
